


The Parent Trap

by baybay2662



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2020-12-28 12:42:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21136892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baybay2662/pseuds/baybay2662
Summary: 15 years ago, Maura left Jane, the love of her life, in Boston with one of their daughters while she took the other to Europe for a new job and a safer and easier life. When Gabriela Rizzoli and Mave Isles meet at a summer program at BCU for gifted high school students, its spurs a series of events that reunites a family and changes their lives forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the characters in this story. I am also taking some liberties with the timeline and way things happen to make them fit my story. I love these characters and hope I do them justice. Please leave feedback!

Chapter 1- Prologue 

Maura had been pacing back and forth in her office for at least 20 minutes, trying to rationalize the conversation she was about to have with Jane. The past 48 hours had been among the worst in her entire life, only coming in second to their experiences with Hoyt. She reflected back on the last two years as a whole, and realized that while she was the happiest she had ever been, she was also the most anxious she had ever been. Falling in love with Jane had happened slowly over a period of years through their friendship, but then also all at once when she found out Jane felt the same. Their passion was all consuming, never ending thoughts about the other, but when Jane constantly put herself in danger, it led to constant anxiety. Not to mention she now had two baby girls to consider as well. 

Her friendship with Jane had always been the most important relationship in her life. She knew that she harbored feelings that bordered on romantic, but before Jane got pregnant, their friendship was fulfilling enough for Maura. She loved Jane, and she knew Jane loved her back, and that was enough. But something changed when Casey left. Jane showed up to her house one morning for coffee like normal, but she could immediately tell something was off. Maura did not think she had ever been more surprised then that morning when Jane told her she was pregnant with twins and needed Maura’s help and support. They went to the doctor the next morning and found out that Jane was pregnant with twins. That was also the day they found out that Casey was killed in the line of duty. 

Jane was the most frazzled that Maura had ever seen her. She was devastated over the loss of Casey as someone important in her life, but she had already decided to end their engagement so she was not mourning him as her partner. Most of all, she was mourning him as the father of their unborn children, and she had no idea how she was going to do it alone. Maura had taken Jane back to her house, sat her on the couch and looked her in the eyes, telling her that she wanted to be her partner in this. She said she wanted to be another parent to these children and create the family she had been so desperately craving her entire life. Maura had taken Jane’s hands in both of hers and asked her to move in. Jane immediately threw her arms around Maura and whispered into her ear that she would love to do this with her. After that, everything changed. 

A gentle knock on her office door frame snapped Maura out of her train of thought and her unconscious pacing. She walked towards Jane until they met in the middle of the room, both not knowing where to start discussing the events of the past 48 hours. 

“Did you think about any of us before you jumped?” Maura asked bluntly, keeping her eyes on Jane’s, forcing her to keep eye contact and making it clear she expected an honest answer. 

“No, I did not. I did not think about you and I did not think about my family. I didn’t even think about myself. The only person that I thought about was Paul,” Jane admitted gently, but without a trace of hesitation or guilt in her voice. “I thought that I was the only one who could help him. I mean I wasn’t going to let him drown, Maura.” 

“But that is not your job!” Maura replied sharply, raising her voice in a manner that was distinctively un-Maura like. 

“You should know by now that I will never just sit back and do nothing when I see someone that I could be helping, even if it puts me in danger.” Jane replied softly, her eyes on Maura like she was willing her to understand. 

It was that truth, that answer she had been expecting but secretly hoping wouldn’t come, that caused Maura to take a step back, close her eyes briefly, and sigh. “Then I can not do this anymore, Jane. I love you with all two hundred and six bones in my body and I do not think that will ever change, but I can not keep sitting by while you put yourself in unnecessary danger time and time again.” Maura forced out, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks. 

“What?” Jane questioned, looking startled and confused. “What are you trying to say, Maura?” Jane reached out to grab Maura’s hand but was rejected as the other woman pulled away. 

“I am saying that I deserve better than to constantly be worried if you will make it home from work another day when you make impulsive decisions like this without any consideration for your fiance and your eighteen month old daughters.” Maura said, her tone becoming more distant and clinical with each word as she tried to wipe away her tears. 

“Now you are starting to sound like my Ma” Jane tried to joke. 

“This is serious Jane. We have talked about this before and you seem to have learned nothing from previous experiences and you obviously do not care about the pain you have caused your family. I am done waiting around for the day that you show up on my autopsy table.” Maura clipped, pulling herself together and walked around behind her desk, desperate to put some space between her and the love of her life to prepare for what she had to say next.

“I have been offered a job to lead the best forensic research team in the world working out of the Sorbonne in Paris. I have repeatedly turned them down, but I think it might be wise to put some distance between us so I am going to call them tomorrow to accept. It will be nice to be close to my parents again and see Hope and Caylin more often in London. But mostly, I think the only way I can stand to not be with you is to put an ocean between us.” Maura looked down and whispered the last part, almost as if she was saying that more to herself than to Jane. 

“What? I don’t even know what to say right now,” Jane blurted out, looking so desperate and confused as tears started streaming down her face. She didn’t even bother to try to hide them, not from Maura. “I never expected you to… I thought we were forever Maura. What about this amazing life we created? What about our daughters?” 

“Watching you jump off a bridge today and waiting hours for the coastguard to find either you or your body is not amazing, Jane. I refuse to go through that again, and our daughters sure as hell will not have to either. “ Maura stated, while unflinchingly holding Jane’s gaze. “The adoption papers were finalized last week, so I have as much of a legal right to them as you do. I will consult my lawyer and we will come up with some sort of arrangement” 

Once she finished speaking, Maura drew her eyes away from the brown ones staring back at her. She grabbed her bag and focused on the door as she walked back around her desk, past Jane, and out the door with her head held high. It took every ounce of self control she had not to spare a single glance back at the broken detective who had sank down onto the couch with her head between her knees, not even trying to stop the sobs that were wracking her entire body.


	2. Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~ 15 years later ~~~~~~~~

Jane Rizzoli was adamant that she was not a helicopter mom. She grew up with Angela Rizzoli as a mother and she always swore she would be nothing like her. She wanted to be so much more “chill”, as her daughter Gabriela would say. But she was also Italian, a cop, and what some would call high strung. So really, there was no hope for her being chill. This was especially true as she was about to drop her 16 year old daughter off at a summer program for 6 weeks. 

She was incredibly proud of Gabi for getting accepted into BCU’s Young Scholars program. She was going to spend the summer living in a dorm on BCU’s campus, monitored by Resident Assistants, of course, while taking a college class and basically living as a college student for a few weeks. It was an amazing opportunity for Gabi, especially because she was all but guaranteed to come out of the program with a full scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in the country. 

However, it was slightly terrifying to send her underage daughter off to live the college life. Even though the program assured the parents that the scholars would be well supervised by the college students who served as the RA’s, Jane knew what went on at the campus, and she was worried about her baby girl. This would also be the first time she would spend more than a few days away from Gabi since she was born, and she was going to miss her more than she wants to admit. One of the biggest rules of the program was that parents and family were not allowed to visit during their stay “to encourage the scholars to form their own community and learn how to be independent young adults” so even though she was only going to be a few miles away, Jane was dreading not being able to see her daughter for so long.The only exception was “family day”; one saturday about halfway through the program where parents and family could visit the scholars. Jane was already counting down the days and she hadn’t even dropped Gabi off yet. 

Gabi, meanwhile, shared none of this hesitation with her mother and was beyond pumped for the summer. It was all she talked about for the last few months of her junior year of high school. Modesty was not Gabi’s specialty and she usually did not think before she spoke, so she had spent many a nights bragging to her friends about how amazing her summer was going to be and how she was so excited to make all kinds of cool smart new friends and, of course, meet all of the cute new boys. 

Jane knew Gabi was a good kid with a smart head on her shoulders, so as much as she bragged about having fun and hanging out with boys, Jane knew she was secretly just as excited about the class she was taking. She didn’t drink or do drugs, and was just as content to spend the night at home hanging out with her family or reading a book as she was going out and socializing with her friends. While she inherited her dark mane of unruly curls, brown eyes, striking bone structure, and tall, slender body from Jane, Gabi was somehow also so much like Maura than Jane ever expected could be possible. She was a self-proclaimed science nerd and was dead set on becoming a doctor. She read science journals for fun and spouted off random facts like she was a human encyclopedia. Her unending curiosity and passion for learning reminded Jane of Maura so much it made her eyes swell up with tears sometimes. Gabi was smart, beautiful, funny, sassy, and so much more. She was, in Jane’s eyes, the perfect little human and Jane loved her more than she ever expected to love another person besides Maura. 

At this very moment, however, she was driving Jane crazy. 

“Gabriela Constance Rizzoli- you have 30 seconds to get your bony little ass in the car or I am leaving without you and you can find your own way there!” Jane yelled out her car window, waiting for her daughter to look up from her phone where she was texting by the front door of her house instead of bringing the last of her bags to the car like she was supposed to be doing. 

“Oh my god, Ma. Please take it from an eleven to a two. I am coming now!” Gabi replied, rolling her eyes. 

Angela, who was in the passenger seat next to Jane, chimed in “Hey now little lady- do not talk to your mother like that. You aren’t going to see her for the rest of the summer so you better turn that attitude around right now!”

Jane was very thankful that her mother was going with her to drop Gabi off on one of her scariest days as a parent so far. While she would normally describe Angela’s presence as more smothering than comforting, Angela was always there to help Jane with Gabi during the important moments, and she was eternally grateful that she wasn’t going through this day alone. Even with her big family that was always willing to help, being a single mother was extremely difficult. But, they always proved to Jane that she wasn’t alone when she really needed them. She knew Gabi appreciated it too. 

“Sorry Mamaw. I’m just nervous. Anxious thoughts cause your brain to trigger it’s stress response and release chemicals into the body like adrenaline. It commonly manifests in teenagers as attitude towards their parents. It’s scientifically proven that I just can’t help it.” Gabi smirked, sliding into the back seat with the rest of her bags. 

“Yeah yeah, I’m sure biology is the reason that you absolutely are unable to not your back talk your mother.” Jane replied, rolling her eyes and starting the car. 

“You’re just bitter because you are going to miss my never-ending hilariously snarky comments all summer, Ma.” 

“Baby girl, I am going to miss you every second of every day while you are gone” Jane replied sincerely, looking up into the rearview mirror to meet her daughter's eyes. 

“I am going to miss you too. Both of you. But I will have my phone on me all the time and you can text me as much as you want. I can’t promise I will respond all the time, but I will as much as I can. I will definitely send daily updates to our family group message and call you at least twice a week!” Gabi responded, seriously this time, smiling at the older women. 

“It would make me feel better if you called me every night” Jane said, pulling out of the driveway and starting the drive to BCU. 

“We’ll see,” Gabi halfheartedly replied, already looking back down at her phone, signaling the sincere moment was now over. 

_______

“Mom, why did we have to be the actual first people in line to check in? I’m going to be gone for six weeks, I thought you’d want to spend more time with me, not get rid of me sooner” Mave Isles gently teased her mother. They were waiting in the lobby of her dorm while the BCU staff finished setting up the check in table. 

“Well according an article by Dr. Lutz published in the last addition of The Journal of Adolescent Psychology, once adolescents reach the age of 16, spending short periods of time away from their parents can actually help them better develop their cognitive and occupational skills and grow their sense of self,” Maura started to ramble, catching on quickly from her daughter’s raised eyebrows that she didn’t actually care. “But I am not trying to get rid of you. I didn’t realize we’d be so early. They said check in started at nine but it is five minutes after nine.” Maura finished, the slight annoyance in her tone evident at the school for not keeping to a precise schedule. 

“Yes, shame on them for making the distinguished alumna Dr. Isles having to wait.” Mave replied, giggling. She always loved to tease her mom about her quirks, impeccable timeliness being one of them, but she made sure her mom also knew how proud she was to be her daughter. 

Maura just laughed and shook her head fondly at her daughter, take a minute to look at her and reflect on just how much she truly was going to miss her. Saying goodbye to people she cared about had always been particularly hard for Maura because she had a hard enough time finding people who were truly interested in getting to know her in the first place. She loved her daughter so much it scared her sometimes, the emotions she felt and the lengths she was prepared to go to keep her safe. She had already proven that by agreeing to go along with the truly asinine custody agreement that her and Jane’s lawyers had come up with. But it let her keep Mave, despite not being her biological mother when her actual one was alive, well, and a perfectly fit mother, so she was grateful to them. Her daughter was the most important person in her life, and even though her thoughts sometimes drifted to the Jane and Gabi sized hole in her heart, she loved her life and was more than happy to raise Mave as a single mother. That isn’t to say that raising Mave had been easy though, especially the past few years. 

“Mave, you know how much I love you, right?” Maura asked, getting her daughters attention away from the social media site she had been scrolling through for the past few minutes. 

“Yes, of course Mom. I know I haven’t made it easy on you the past year. But I swear that’s all behind me now. And I know you were hesitant to let me apply this program, but I’m so thankful that you did. I am going to get to take dance classes all summer from a COLLEGE instructor. That’s so cool!” Mave happily responded, practically vibrating with excitement. 

“I know, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you for getting into this program. Even if you have to go halfway around the world for it. But I still worry about giving you this much freedom after all of the trouble you have been in. I was serious about the threat of homeschool, Mave. If ANYTHING goes wrong, and I mean one single whisper of you getting into any trouble, then you are coming back to France with me and I am homeschooling you for your last year of high school.“ Maura said quietly but firmly, staring intently at her daughter to ensure her point was made. 

“I promise! I won’t let you down.” Mave replied sweetly, giving her mother a quick hug. Maura wanted to believe her, she really did, but she had seen Mave make similar promises and completely disregard them before. 

In some respects, Mave was every bit the daughter that Maura always imagined herself having. She was poised, confident, had impeccable manners, and enjoyed spending time with Maura doing things like shopping, going to museums, and dressing up and accompanying Maura to various charity events and art exhibits. She was beautiful with her long, graceful body and curly black hair, but she was also strong and athletic from 13 years of rigorous ballet classes. 

She inherited not only Jane’s striking looks, but also her ability to read people easily and alter her behavior to get from them what she wanted, which was vastly different from Maura’s own personal characteristics and sometimes made her slightly intimidated by her daughter. She charmed everyone she met, and the way she would manipulate her tone and body language to get someone to do what she wanted reminded her so much of Jane sometimes it scared her. She also had the most stubborn disposition and her own very specific rules of what she considered right and wrong. Honestly, Maura sometimes thought she’d make a great politician. 

Despite charming all of the adults in her life and being well-liked by her peers, she still had a sort of hardness about her though, like you can spend hours laughing with her but still not know anything personal about her, also much like Jane. Mave kept her vulnerable side reserved for only Maura and her family, and occasionally Angela when she visited. 

She was worried about letting Mave accept this program for various reasons, but mostly it was because she had a hard time trusting her on her own. After much debating about it for years, Maura had decided to send Mave to a boarding school in Switzerland, only a three hour train ride from their apartment in Paris, last year for her second year of high school. Maura was hesitant about it because she didn’t want Mave to feel like Maura was trying to avoid being a mother to her, like her childhood experiences with her own mother. However, the excellent ballet program and rigorous course load, along with Maura’s memories of how truly fun boarding school had been, persuaded Maura it was the best place for Mave.Well, she thought that until the headmaster had called her early one morning on her way to work and told her she had to come get Mave by the end of the week because she was being kicked out, and called her a “well disguised trainwreck.” A choice of words that caused Maura to curl her fingers into fists of anger even to this day. 

She came back to Paris with Maura sincerely apologetic and only slightly humbled, but with a renewed passion for dance. She didn’t do well in school, not because she wasn’t smart; she is incredibly intelligent, but she just did not have the interest or discipline to be a great student. Mave knew that her mother expected a lot out of her and her future, so she worked hard the rest of that year and the next to maintain adequate grades, focus on her ballet classes, (mostly) stay out of trouble, and get into the BCU Young Scholars program. She knew it was a long shot, but she needed something to boost her college applications if she was going to get into an Ivy League school like her mother wanted. She had been so excited and proud of herself when she came to Maura with her acceptance letter than Maura decided give her another chance to prove that she could be trusted on her own. 

Maura was pulled out of her worrying by a tall, older, academic-type in a suit who was holding his hand out to Maura. “Hello, I am Dr. Bayer. I am the director of the BCU Young Scholars program. I understand you are the first family here to check in so I wanted to personally introduce myself.”

Maura reached out and shook his hand with a polite smile on her face. “Oh, hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Bayer. I am Dr. Maura Isles, and this is my daughter Mave.”

“Hi Dr. Bayer. I am Mave Isles! I am so happy to be here. I am truly looking forward to my ballet coursework and building a fun and rewarding community with my fellow scholars.” Mave greeted him with her biggest smile, laying on the charm in the way only a Rizzoli could. 

“Well, aren't you both a couple of charmers!” Dr. Bayer replied, somewhat inappropriately as Maura thought. She could see Mave slightly scrunch her nose in distaste at his words out of the corner of her eye. “You are the talented dancer from the American School in Paris, right?”

“Yes, that is me! I’m not sure I can live up to that reputation, Dr. Bayer. But I’ll definitely do my best to try.” Mave stated, keeping the pleasant tone in her voice even though Maura could tell she didn’t mean it. 

“Yes, well, I have every belief that you will flourish here, Miss Isles. Now let’s get you moved in!” Dr Bayer said as he gestured for them to follow him over to the check in table to get her room assignment and schedule. 

“Yes, let’s” Mave mouthed sarcastically behind his back to Maura, who struggled to contain her snort as they followed him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sooo I kinda love this story? It might be cheesy as HECK, but it makes my heart happy. I hope it does the same for you. **

Jane, Gabi, and Angela were finishing unpacking Gabi's last suitcase on her side of a small room in one of BCU's basic freshman dorms. Gabi suddenly dropped the clothes she was folding and threw her arms around her mom in a surprisingly strong hug for her size.

"Woah there baby. Are you okay? What's going on?" Jane asked her daughter as she pulled away.

She led Gabi over to her bed and sat next to her, trying to rub her back in a calming way. Angela came over and sat on her other side and put her hand on her knee, smiling at her encouragingly.

"What? I'm so great. I have been dreaming about this exact day for almost a year. I get to meet new people and learn new things and take college level science classes. That's so fucking COOL!" Gabi replied with as much excitement as she could muster, but the older women could tell her usual spark was missing from her eyes.

"Language Gabi!" Jane responded quickly.

"Then what's wrong, sweetie?" Angela asked her granddaughter gently, waving away Jane's scolding reply. Jane rolled her eyes in response, knowing she would have been scolded if Jane was the one who cursed, but secretly appreciated her mother's sweet spot for Gabi.

"I am just nervous, okay. I know I'm a little nerdy. It's fine at school because my friends know me well enough by now to just stop me if I go all googlemouth and they still like me anyway. But what if the people here find it more annoying than endearing? I also ramble when I'm nervous, and I am so nervous about this that I will probably ramble even more. Then there's the subject of the boys here. What if I find a super cool super smart super cute boy but he thinks I'm a science nerd? Or even worse, what if he's smarter than me! God, could you imagine how awful that would be?" Gabi stopped to breathe, looking between the two older women with her dark brown eyes so wide and innocent looking.

Jane just stared at her intently for a second while trying to figure out the best way to approach this. She had never been the coddling mom type. Overprotective maybe, but more tell-it-how-it-is then everything-is-always-going-to-be-okay. Gabi usually never needed coddling anyway, she was strong, brash, and sarcastic, yet surprisingly in touch with her feelings and always willing to share them. She was much better at processing her emotions than her mom and barely every botted them up like Jane did. Jane had realized early on that sometimes the best way to deal with a nervous Gabi was a good old tough love pep talk.

"Look honey, we all get nervous when we go to new places or meet new people. That's completely normal and your feelings are valid. However, you're a Rizzoli and Rizzolis always kick ass. You're a genius, not to mention an awesome athlete even though you refuse to play anything anymore, beautiful, funny and kind. But if you let your nerves get the best of you and don't put yourself out there, no one will see that. If you start getting involved in activities immediately and participating in everything you can, you'll be the most popular girl here. I have complete faith in you that you'll make great friends"

"Wow Mom please keep going on about how great I am! Also, you ignored what I said about boys." Gabi replied, giggling and letting a smile take over her features once again.

"I think that's enough of an ego boost for today. And you know what I think about boys. Teenage boys are stupid. You don't need to date until you're older. I would tell you to stay away from them if I thought you'd actually listen. Anyway, so you're going to suck it up and try to make friends and do your best here, even if you're nervous. Capeesh?"

"Capeesh. I love you mom. I really am going to miss you. It's just been you and I forever, you know? It's going to be weird not hearing you nag me all the time." Gabi responded sincerely.

"I love you too. You have no idea how sad I'm gonna be to have you gone too, kid. The house is going to be lonely without you."

"Well enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts. I'm already looking forward to lounging all over the house when I get back after spending 6 weeks in this closet sized room that I have to share with a complete stranger!" Gabi dramatically sighed, seemingly back to her normal self.

"Speaking of your roommate, do you know anything about her?" Angela asked in her usual nosey tone.

"No, and she hasn't dropped any of her stuff off yet. Hopefully she will soon. All I have is her name that was on the paper we got at check in. It says her name is Kate Kane."

"I'm surprised you haven't stalked her on instagram yet. You rot your brain staring at it enough." Jane snarkily added.

"Oh I am definitely going to if she hasn't moved in by the time we get back from lunch. I read an article recently that delved into social media impacting my generations ability to get to know someone with preconceived notions of who they are based on their social media. It says that 72% of teens immediately stalk someone new on social media when they meet them. And, 43% of the time, it creates a negative image of the person in their mind that affects how they will see them, no matter how different they are in person. Truly fascinating stuff. Now let's go eat and then I'll say goodbye to you by the car. I think I'm ready to start this whole independent summer thing."

An hour later, Jane and Angela were leaving BCU to head back to Jane's house. Jane was trying to hold it together but she knew was doing a bad job when Angela took Jane's right hand off the steering wheel and held it gently between her own.

"Ma… I haven't been alone in almost 18 years. What am I going to do without her?"

"Oh sweetie. You are not alone. You have never been alone. But maybe you could take this time to start meeting people again. When was the last time you went out on a date? You're not getting any younger you know."

Jane just rolled her eyes in response.

"I just want you to be happy! I'm sure Gabi wouldn't mind. She just wants you to be happy too. Besides, I don't think she would be opposed to having another parental figure in her life. It's just one more person to love her."

"Just drop it, Ma. Let's go home." Jane replied, signaling the end of this conversation. But after hearing Angela's words, Jane suddenly remembered something similar she had said to Gabi almost 10 years ago. She tried not to think about this particular conversation often and thankfully Gabi had enough sense to not bring it up now, but she couldn't help the flashback that played in her mind now.

_Jane had been reflecting on her big day while leaning against the counter of her new kitchen, looking around proudly. It was their first night in the new house- her first home purchase that had only happened because of her recent promotion. When Maura and Mave left, she had taken the Sergeants exam, quickly passed, and took over Korsak's position since he was retiring. Taking on a leadership position with less field work was something Jane had never expected for herself, but she was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. She commanded the respect of her subordinates and appreciated the coordination and behind the scenes decision making of the police department. Being a Sergeant was great for a few years, but she had recently realized that she was getting older and believed she was capable of more success in her career. She had been promoted to the Lieutenant of Homicide six months ago and it finally provided her with the salary and benefits she needed to be able to purchase a home and put money away for the future. She was immensely proud of herself and she knew her family would sleep better at night knowing she was pretty much tied to her desk now and would most likely never go into the field again. _

_Today had also been Gabi's first day of first grade at her new school. It was a good school; a private Catholic school downtown that would have even lived up to Maura's standards. When she took Gabi that morning to school, she had never seen her little girl so excited. Gabi was endlessly curious, already reading at a third grade level, and was looking forward to starting school so much that she had insisted on sleeping in her uniform the night before. After Jane introduced herself to her teacher and helped Gabi put her new princess backpack into her cubby, she bent down so she was level with Gabi and hugged her as tightly as she could. Gabi, looking much older than six, just put her tiny hand on Jane's cheek and whispered "Mommy, I'm going to be okay. I love you!" and then walked over to her desk without looking back. _

_However, when Jane had gotten home from work today, the little girl who welcomed her home was a completely different person than she had dropped off. Angela, who had volunteered to pick Gabi up from school every day and take her home until Jane got off work, said she had been like that since she picked her up but refused to talk about her day. She only gave one word answers to Jane throughout dinner and had practically fallen asleep before Jane could get her bathed and tucked into bed a few hours ago. She had tried to not focus on it for the rest of the night and distracted herself unpacking the remaining few boxes in the kitchen. But once she was done around 10:00 pm, Jane was worrying so intensely about Gabi again and what could have happened at school that she almost didn't hear the young girl creep down the stairs in her hot pink bunny slippers, cradling her stuffed elephant named peanut that she refused to sleep without._

"_Mommy?" Gabi cried out sleepily, walking into the kitchen. _

"_Baby girl, come here. What are you doing out of bed?" Jane exclaimed, picking the little girl up and sitting her on the kitchen island so she could be at her eye level. _

"_I woke up and got scared because I forgot where I was."_

"_Well that's understandable. It's your first night sleeping in your new room. What can I do to make it better for you? How about I make you a warm glass of milk and then I'll tuck you back in and sit with you until you fall back asleep?" _

"_That sounds okay" Gabi replied bravely even as tears slowly started falling from her eyes. _

"_Oh sweetheart" Jane whispered, as she rushed over to Gabi and wrapped her arms around the girl. Gabi leaned into her mother and started sobbing into her chest. In that moment, Jane decided that getting shot hurt less than holding your 6 year old daughter while she sobbed without knowing what was wrong. _

_After a few minutes of rubbing Gabi's back and gently stroking her wild tangly hair through her fingers to calm her shaking, Jane finally let Gabi go so she could face her again. "Now do you wanna try telling me what's really got you so upset kid?"_

"_Okay Mommy. I don't think I like school." Gabi replied resolutely. _

"_Why is that? Did something bad happen?"_

"_Well my teacher is so nice and I met this girl whose desk is right next to mine. She had shoes with light up unicorns on them and I like them, so I think we'll be friends." Gabi said this with the simple honesty that only a six year old has. _

"_That sounds like a great first day. Why do you not like school?" _

"_A few of the third grade boys came over to me in the lunch line. They called me ugly and said I had a unibrow. I said that it didn't matter whether they thought I was ugly or not, because I'm smart and my ma says I'm very pretty." Gabi paused, looking slightly proud of herself. _

"_Oh sweetie that was a great response. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, but you are right. It doesn't matter if anyone else thinks you are pretty as long as you believe you are. Plus, you are smart and strong and kind. All of those things are more important than being pretty anyway." Jane replied, fighting to keep her voice strong and not show Gabi how upset she was truly feeling at hearing that. _

"_I know that mommy. That's not even why I am sad. They got mad that I didn't care so they got meaner. One of them said that my dad probably didn't like me very much. I said that I didn't have a dad, just a mom who was great. Then they laughed at me and told me that the reason I don't have a dad is because he probably didn't want me." Gabi finished quietly, looking down at her feet. _

_Jane paused for a minute and tried to figure out how to answer her daughter. Her heart absolutely broke at the thought that her daughter had spent the day thinking she was the reason she didn't have a second parent. She knew she immediately had to make sure Gabi knew how loved and worthy she was, but she also didn't know how much to reveal. _

"_Baby, look at me, " Jane waited until her eyes met the smaller ones of the same color, filled with unshed tears. "I love you so so so much. I love you more than six dads could love you combined. You also have your mamaw and Uncle Tommy and Uncle Frankie and Aunt Nina and Uncle Vince and Uncle Barry. All of them love you almost as much as I do. And we all think you are perfect in every single way. You are so loved and so worthy of love. You have done absolutely nothing wrong and could never do anything that would cause any of us to leave you or love you less." _

"_But then why do I only have one mommy? Everyone else in my class has one mommy and one daddy or two mommies or two daddies."_

_Up until now, Jane had managed to distract Gabi the few times she had started towards this line of questioning, but she knew she couldn't avoid it this time. _

_Jane picked Gabi up and absolutely melted as her little head nuzzled into her neck. "Let's get you up to bed and I'll tell you a quick story about your parents, okay? But you can't ask any more questions tonight and you have to go back to sleep when I'm finished."_

"_Okay mommy" Gabi replied before yawning and pulling the covers up to her chin when Jane sat her down on her bed. _

"_Family is not just who you are married or related to. Family is made up of who you love and choose to spend your time with. You have a big wonderful family that loves you so much. There are two important people that are family to us even though you haven't met them. But that's because sometimes, things happen to families that keeps them apart. Casey was a soldier and if he were here right now, you and him would be running around causing so much trouble together. He was handsome, brave, and so so kind. You have the best qualities of him. Maura… well Maura is a doctor. She's beautiful and brilliant and I swear baby, she knows everything about everything in the world. You share her endless curiosity and I know she would be so proud of you. Even though neither of them are here right now, they love you so incredibly much. They would be here for you if they could, I promise. I love you so incredibly much too." Jane finished, quietly crying to herself now, knowing Gabi wouldn't notice as she was half asleep. She leaned down and kissed Gabi's forehead softly before walking towards the door to turn the light off. She didn't know whether what she said would stop Gabi's questions or cause her to ask more, but she really hoped for the former. _

"_That was nice, Mommy. Goodnight." Gabi husked out before completely falling asleep. _

_Jane snapped a quick picture of the sleeping child on her phone before turning the light off and walking into the hallway. She leaned back and cradled the phone to her chest, closing her eyes and sighing softly. She made a spur of the moment decision and quickly emailed the picture to Maura's email, the only contact information that Jane had for her now, with just the caption "Today was her first day of first grade. You would be proud of her."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Darling, I'm worried that we didn't bring enough clothes for you. What if Boston is hit by a sudden cold front? The heaviest thing you packed is a denim jacket!" Maura voiced her concerns to her daughter as she was hanging the last of Mave's clothes in the small basic wardrobe in her dorm room.

Mave finished putting the lavender bedspread and matching floral throw pillows on the bed, smiling happily at the now fully unpacked room. She turned back to her mom, who was staring at the wardrobe with her brow furrowed with concern. "Well, I know I didn't pay much attention in science class, but I think it's pretty improbable that Boston is going to get cold enough in June or July to need a winter coat."

"I know I'm being irrational. I just want to make sure you are prepared. And actually, statistically speaking, the odds of Boston experiencing abnormal climate conditions is increasing by 12% each year because of the effects of global warming and C02 emissions into the atmosphere. I read this fascinating journal article last week that talked about how seasons will basically become irrelevant-" Maura rambled before being interrupted by her daughter. She turned back to face Mave and noticed she had a mischievous glint in her eye.

"You know, if you think I might end up needing something, you could always give me the key to the house in Beacon Hill. I know you keep basics stocked there, so I'm sure I could go get a coat there." Mave tried to keep her voice even and casual, as to appear indifferent to whatever her mom's response will be.

Maura just raised her eyebrow and regarded her daughter carefully.

"What's that look for? I promise I'm only suggesting it in case of emergencies. You know I'm not even permitted to leave campus without an escort, but it would be good to have it in case anything crazy happened. Like what if there was an active shooter situation? Those happen often in America, you know." Mave said, her eyes wide and innocent.

As much as Maura wanted to call Mave out on her obvious mischievous intentions, she did concede that the girl had a point about having somewhere safe and familiar to go in case of emergency. Especially in a country where Mave had never spent more than two or three weeks at a time in before. Besides, she wanted to give Mave every opportunity to prove that she was trustworthy.

"Fine, but I am telling you this only because you promised that you will not betray my trust and will be on perfect behavior this summer. I changed the security system when we were here last. There is no key, but there is a fingerprint scanner and a code. Your fingerprints have already been uploaded to the system and the code is the house number of the place in Spain." Maura gave her daughter a pointed look, making sure she understood how serious she was.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you for trusting me. I won't let you down!" Mave squealed, hugging her mother rather forcefully. As she pulled back, she evened out her tone again and replied, "I'm sure I won't even end up ever needing to go there. Again, it's just for emergencies anyway."

"Mmm Hmm," Maura hummed in response before looking around the room. "I think you are all set here. I still can't believe you managed to get the only single room here. I know they said it's because it's handicap accessible and they didn't have anyone who needed it this year, but I wonder how it got assigned to you of all people."

Mave just snorted in response.

"What?" Maura questioned.

"It always surprises me how oblivious you can be sometimes to the attention you attract from other people, Mom."

"I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean, darling."

"Okay let me break it down for you then. When you asked Dr. Bayer how many people were assigned to a room in that tone you use when you talk about things that are obviously displeasing to you, he was flustered. He hastily typed something on his computer and then printed a new piece of paper out with my room assignment. He obviously changed it because he thought it would get him brownie points with you."

"Brownie points? I still have no idea what you are talking about Mave."

"Oh my god. Mom! He thinks you are hot. He kept smiling at you and staring at your chest. He gave me this room to make you happy. It was really funny when you didn't return any of his attention. But I am definitely not complaining about the room." Mave giggled.

"Oh. I suppose I didn't notice."

"Obviously. People do things like that for you all the time and you almost never notice unless they blatantly ask you out, and even though you really only acknowledge it when it's a pretty woman." Mave said this without any judgement or surprise in her voice. Her mother had always been very open with her about sexuality and had told Mave about dates she had been on with both women and men. It had always been general knowledge in their household and Mave didn't even realize it was something that was considered out of the norm until she had reached secondary school. But even then, they lived in Europe where people were more open with sexuality anyway, so she had never given it a second thought.

"Hm. I hadn't realized you were so perceptive. Thank you for enlightening me then." Maura replied somewhat self-consciously. She knew she was off of her game so-to-say, but she didn't realize she had completely stopped noticing romantic or sexual attention that was directed towards her. She found it a little sad that even her daughter noticed it before she did.

"Mom, I'm not trying to make fun of you! I promise! I was just teasing. You know I am not going to be around to keep you on your toes for six whole weeks! What ever are you going to do without me?" Mave brought one hand to her heart and sighed dramatically.

"Well actually, I am leaving here to board a plane to New York. I'm going to be consulting on a case with the NYPD. But after that, I am going back to Paris to sit around my empty apartment and think about how life is so boring without my sweet, never annoying daughter."

Mave gasped. "Dr. Isles! Was that sarcasm?"

Maura just laughed. "I do have to get going though. But I have something to give you first. Have I ever told you how we decided on the name Mave?"

Mave immediately perked up at hearing her mother use the word "we" but she knew if she questioned it, the woman would immediately shut down and refuse to answer any questions. She knew she was adopted, but her mother had never told her anything else, stating that it was in the custody agreement that she wasn't allowed to know any other details until she turned 18.

"I don't think so." Mave replied evenly.

"It's an Irish name that means Joyous. I've told you briefly about my biological father's family being one of Boston's most prominent Irish families. I wanted to pass some part of that to you, even if you are not genetically Irish. I had never felt more joy then when I committed to being your mother, so the name seemed like a perfect fit."

"Wow, I love that."

Maura took out a drawstring bag from her purse, and held it out to Mave. Mave took it from her and slowly emptied out it's contents. It contained a silver necklace with two Tiffany heart charms on it. Upon further inspection, Mave noticed that the back of the hearts had engravings on them. Once said joy and the other said strength. "This is so pretty mom. Thank you so much, but why are you giving this to me now?"

"I had this made when you were born and I've either worn it or kept it with me every day since. I got it to symbolize the joy and strength that being your mother gives me. But you've already given so much joy and strength to me, now I want you to have it." Maura fastened it around her daughters neck, grateful Mave was facing away from her so she wouldn't see the flush that was coming over her face and chest at the slight lie.

"I love it, and I won't take it off all summer!"

"I'm glad to hear that, but now I'm afraid that I must leave now if I am going to catch my flight to New York. I am so proud of you for getting here, and I know you are going to make me so proud. I love you so much, ma chérie." Maura hugged her daughter tightly and smoothed her long black hair down her back in an affectionate gesture.

"Je t'aime, maman." Mave responded sincerely, reverting to French as she always preferred to when she was speaking from her heart. She toyed with the necklace around her neck as she watched her mom walk away, focusing specifically on the charm that said strength, knowing there was something off about her mom's explanation. She knew she would have all summer to worry about it. And what better place to research her family and adoption history than Boston, the very place where it all happened.

A few minutes later, as Maura was riding in the back of the town car that was taking her to the airport, her thoughts drifted back to the necklace she had given her daughter. More specifically, she wondered if Jane still wore the matching one that she had, or if she too had given it to her daughter. She quickly waved off the idea though, instead distracting herself like she often did when thoughts of Jane surfaced with the copy of _Forensic Psychology Monthly _she had been saving for the trip.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note: Apparently the chapters are going to keep getting longer, but I'm quite sure you guys won't mind. This story idea started with the idea of Maura having a daughter who was so fiery and passionate like Jane and getting kicked out of boarding school for doing something she thought was right. This conversation that happens between Maura and Mave is one of the first pieces of the story that came to me. I hope you love it as much as I do! **

**Also- in case anyone wanted to know what Mave and Gabi look like in my head-google Claudia Sulewski.**

"Happy Monday, roomie!" Gabi's roommate Kate exclaimed with _entirely_ too much cheer for 7:30 am on a Monday morning as she came back into the room after breakfast. "Seminar starts in 30 minutes so you might want to think about-"

She suddenly ducked for cover, her train of thought was interrupted by the pillow that Gabi had just thrown at her head. She stood back up and faced the mirror, fixing her short highlighted hair so the pixie cut was tousled, with the hair on top of her head spiked up just slightly.

"Okay. Not a morning person. Got it. I'll just finish getting ready for class and mind my own business." Kate said, seemingly unruffled by the grumpy behavior, while laughing quietly.

Gabi groaned and sat up in bed, using as much energy as she could muster to glare at the girl across the room. Gabi Rizzoli was many things- but a morning person was definitely not one of them. Her mamaw liked to say that Gabi was not a real person before 9 am, an endearing quality that she definitely inherited from Jane. She realized then that her usual grumpy morning self was probably not going to help her make friends, so she softened her gaze at her roommate and tried to force a rueful smile on her face.

"Good morning, Kate. I'm sorry about the pillow, it was an unconscious semi automatic response to a perceived threat of a critical survival function being interrupted."

She raised one of her eyebrows and replied "Snoozing your alarm for the third time is not a critical survival function. And by the way, I didn't expect you to be the type of girl who's alarm song is 'Get Low' but to each her own I guess."

Gabi just shrugged. "Rap music gets me going in the morning. My mom thinks its the weirdest thing too but I have such a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings that she will blare 'the sweat drips down my balls' throughout the whole house if it keeps me from being late to school."

Kate laughed in response and Gabi sent a quick thank you to the heavens above for such a cool roommate as she started getting ready for the day. Gabi had been an only child her entire life and had never shared a room before. Her mom's cop instinct also meant she was super protective when Gabi was younger, so she didn't even go to many sleepovers. Gabi had met Kate yesterday shortly after her mom and mamaw left and was so nervous she didn't say more than two words to her the entire time her dad was there to help her unpack. When her dad had finally left and the two of them were alone for the first time, Kate had just turned to her with a slightly scary glint in her eye and casually asked if she wanted to break the rules on their first night there. Gabi, who normally broke out in hives when she even thought about breaking the rules, decided she wanted to loosen up this summer and immediately agreed.

It turned out that Kate's version of breaking the rules meant sneaking off campus to the Dairy Queen that was a few blocks away to get milkshakes. Gabi decided that it was the perfect amount of rule breaking and that she and Kate would get along great. They sat there and talked for almost two hours until they had no choice but to go back for the welcome dinner. She learned that Kate lived with her dad in New York City and her father had founded a defense contract company that had recently taken off making them much wealthier than when she was growing up. They had moved there four years ago after her mother and twin sister had passed away in a tragic car accident. Gabi couldn't even imagine going through something like that and expressed it to Kate, but she just waved it off. She quickly changed topics, which gave Gabi the impression she didn't like to talk about those events. She then went on to tell Gabi about realizing she was a lesbian when she started at her new school in New York and was amazed by all the pretty girls. She briefly mentioned that all of those experiences in the last few years had created some slight anger issues, so she had taken up karate as a stress reliever and was working on her black belt. She was definitely one of the most interesting friends Gabi had ever made.

Now Gabi was grateful that she already felt like she had a friend to walk to her first morning of classes with because to say she was nervous would be an understatement. Gabi was totally ready for her Medical Science Lab class, but unfortunately that wasn't until this afternoon. Every student at the BCU scholars program was taking two classes this summer: a class of their choosing and a required general elective class called Seminar. The seminars were strategically filled with students in different disciplines and from different cities so they could get to know as many people as possible and "get out of their comfort zones" as Dr. Bayer had stated last night at the welcome dinner. The Seminar classes were also apparently all differently themed at the discretion of the professor leading it. Gabi's was called "Intentional Dialogue in 2019" and she shuddered at the thought of whatever that entailed.

Gabi, like her mother, was never one to care too much about her appearance so she just threw on leggings, an oversized Red Sox tee shirt, and some vans and was out the door walking side by side with Kate to their seminar classes, which were both in an academic building near their dorm. She tried not to be self conscious about her outfit as she walked next to Kate, who wasn't wearing any makeup and was casually dressed in a band tee, skinny jeans, and doc martens yet somehow looking effortlessly more cool than Gabi ever thought she could. Gabi thought back to Jane's pep talk the previous day though and resolved to try to let go of her nervousness about her outfit, her social skills, boys and everything else that was scaring her and try to just be excited for her first day.

"When you never showed up to breakfast this morning, I thought that was a sure sign you decided you'd already had enough of me." Kate joked.

"Oh no! I'm so glad you are my roommate and I can already tell we'll be great friends. I just hate the mornings and will probably never get up early enough to go to breakfast." Gabi replied, smiling at the other girl.

"Okay, whew. I just wanted to make sure you weren't freaked out by this." Kate said quietly while gesturing haphazardly to herself.

"I don't understand. What would I be freaked out be?" Gabi questioned, genuinely confused by Kate was trying to express to her.

"The gay thing. I mean I am not ashamed of who I am, but I also don't want to throw it in your face in your own room if you're not okay with it."

"Oh! Oooooh. No! Oh my god I don't care at all. And if even if I did you shouldn't change anything, it would have been on me to get over it. Besides, I'm pretty sure my mom was almost married to a woman. She still has no idea to this day that I saw a random woman sneaking out of our house at 5am a few months ago." Gabi laughed at the memory and the idea of how flustered her mom would be if she knew Gabi had seen it. She was saving that reveal for the perfect moment.

"Okay we're gonna have to circle back to that revelation later but here is the building where our classes are, so I'm gonna go find mine but I'll come find you at lunch," Kate stopped to face her and ruffled Gabi's hair affectionately. "Have a great first day, sweetheart!" She exaggerated, laughing as she walked up the stairs to the building.

Gabi just looked toward the doors hesitantly and forced herself to go search for her classroom.

When she finally arrived ten minutes later after circling almost every floor of the building twice, she was not prepared for what she found. She walked into the room and was immediately met with darkness because all of the lights were turned off and the blinds were drawn. Once her eyes adjusted, she realized the desks were arranged in one large circle in the middle of the room. The professor, a nerdy hipster looking guy who didn't look a day over 23 sat in the middle of the circle perched on a stool. Gabi hated being late, especially to class, so she stumbled to the last empty desk and quietly muttered her apologies as she sat down.

Cute nerdy hipster professor clapped his hands together excitedly once she was seated. "Okay everyone, now that you're all here- let's begin. My name is Jack Greer and I just finished my PHD in communication studies. You can call me Dr. G or even Jack if you want. We don't have to be super formal here. So basically, we're just gonna sit around and talk about random topics I've come up with that I think will spark interesting conversations. Obviously, you've noticed that you can't see each other well today. It won't be like this every class, but I want you guys to feel safe and free from any judgement to say what you feel, so we'll be like this today to ease into this type of setting and during a few other classes with sensitive topics. Now, let's get started. Today, we're just going to debate something fun and silly. The point is to learn how to speak your mind and converse with each other. Just raise your hand when you have a thought and state your name when I call on you the first time. I want to know what Hogwarts House our current president would belong to. Who wants to start?" He looked enthusiastically around the room and shrugged out of his blazer. After a few seconds of no one responding and everyone looking slightly bewildered at the topic, he casually rolled up the sleeves to his button-up and clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back as if he had all the time in the world.

Gabi was very passionate about Harry Potter and obviously knew exactly what her answer was immediately and was prepared to defend it. However, she was still nervous and didn't want to be the first one to speak.

The future frat bro in the corner that Gabi could only see by the Vineyard Vines hat raised his hand first with the confidence only a spoiled white boy has. "Brennan Johnson. I mean I'm just gonna state the obvious here and say Mr. President is obviously a Slytherin. I'm sure no one disagrees so can we be done now?"

"Thank you Brennan for speaking first. As helpful as that was, let's hear from someone else." Dr. G replied.

Gabi steeled herself and raised her hand. She loved to talk in class normally, but she had also been going to the same small private school since first grade. This was a new experience for her and she was extremely nervous but she was going to brave through it.

"I'm Gabi Rizzoli and I fully disagree actually. It's easy to think that he would be a Slytherin because he's obviously ambitious and bold. However, those are also characteristics of gryffindors. What separates him from the Slytherins is that his lack of cunningness. There's no doubt that both of these house types will go after what they want, but the main difference is how they get it. If they both want to get into a house, Gryffindors will metaphorically break the door down, but Slytherins will find a way to steal the key."

A girl on the far side of the room that Gabi could only identify by her dark hair and ramrod straight posture huffed and chimed in without even waiting to be called on. "My name is Mave Isles. While Miss Rizzoli makes an interesting point, I will have to blatantly disagree with her conclusion. Now I do want to be upfront that I live in France so while he's not my president, I consider myself to be pretty informed on American affairs and there is absolutely no way he would be sorted into Gryffindor. Gryffindors are heros- they are brave and strong and good. He is absolutely none of those things."

Gabi could already tell from the first sentence that this girl had a stuck up attitude and would never be convinced by someone like Gabi that she was wrong. However, Jane Rizzoli's daughter was taught to never allow spoiled rich kids to walk all over her.

"Actually Gryffindor's pride and arrogance often causes them to think they are better than everyone else and they are usually too stubborn to see the error of their ways. They can be just as exclusive if not more so than Slytherins." Gabi replied in a voice that sounded much more confident than she actually felt.

"I'm Easton Grant and I just want to play devil's advocate here- what if he's secretly a Hufflepuff?" A handsome, slightly young looking boy who sat directly to Gabi's left added jokingingy before shooting a smile towards Gabi.

Mave ignored him and replied directly to Gabi. "I still disagree. You have to be sly and cunning to win a presidential election, especially in the way he did with his smear campaigns. He obviously knows how to work people to get what he wants and that is very typical of a Slytherin. You probably just don't want to say he's a Slytherin because that is the house you are in."

Gabi narrowed her eyes towards the other girl even though it was so dark in the room she knew no one could tell. "Actually I am a Ravenclaw, so this has no effect on my house either way."

Mave just huffed in response "Well I am a Gryffindor and I vehemently refuse to accept the fact that he would have any place in my house."

Gabi just could not believe this _awful_ girl was being so stubborn, and for really no reason. This was just supposed to be a silly debate. But for some reason she found that she couldn't just let it go either.

"Maybe that's because you're the one who's actually a Slytherin. You seem like you would fit in well there." Gabi smirked and appreciated when Easton, the cute boy sitting next to her, laughed in agreement. The whole class just seemed either amused at the fight that was stirring up between the two girls or desperately wanting it to be over already. Dr. G seemed to agree with the latter.

"Okay ladies as interesting as this conversation has been, I'm going to stop this before it becomes a catfight-" Dr. G started to say before he was interrupted by identical indignant gasps coming from the two women at the same time.

"Catfight!?" Mave scoffed.

"That is incredibly offensive. The colloquial meaning of the term catfight implies a petty argument between two women, normally over something trivial like a man or piece of clothing, popularized in the late 1990's. I would never be a part of such a thing!" Gabi rambled before even realizing she was doing it and cut herself off.

"Anyway, like I was saying, this was supposed to be just a fun little debate. Maybe next time we can try to keep it lighthearted. You are all dismissed. I'll see you Wednesday." Dr. G opened the door and quickly fled the room.

The rest of the students started following him out slowly, not used to being dismissed early and having free time to do as they wished, since up until this point that had had to stick to the rigid schedule of high school classes. Gabi started to get up, but purposefully tried to match her pace to Easton, hoping to make conversation with him as they walked out. She smiled at him shyly, but it turned into a full faced grin when she realized he was looking back at her the same way.

She looked down at her feet, gathering the courage to say something, and without looking up blurted out "I promise I don't normally get into arguments on my first day of class!"

Easton commented at the same time "Wow… do you think all of the seminars are going to be that intense?"

They both blushed and looked down again when they realized they spoke over each other. They were walking outside of the building now and Gabi was momentarily disoriented by the sun outside after being in a dark room for so long. However, before they got the chance to speak again, a familiar voice approached them.

"I appreciate a spirited debate as much as the next person, and I'm sorry that got personal. I just want to make sure we get off on the right foot. So no hard feelings, Rizzoli?" Mave asked as she came and stood directly in front of Gabi, holding out her hand expectantly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gabi saw Easton gasp as he looked back and forth between Gabi and the other girl, finally seeing them both in the daylight for the first time. She thought she heard him mumble "Holy shit you guys could be twins" but she was too busy staring open mouthed at the girl in front of her to fully process what he said.

Time seemed to slow down as the girls seemed to fully look at each other for the first time. Gabi took in the perfectly styled almost black wavy hair that is exactly what hers would look like if she did anything with it, to the eerily similar dark brown eyes, and then finally to the features that differentiated Gabi from her mother- a small button nose and rounded chin that she always assumed came from her father. Every feature on the other girls face was exactly the same thing as what Gabi saw when she looked in the mirror, except for the much more carefully plucked eyebrows and layers of expertly applied makeup. She noticed that while the rest of their bodies also looked pretty similar, their styles could not be more different. While Gabi was dressed casually, Mave looked like she was ready for a yacht party in a two piece seersucker tank top and shorts set and white platform sandals that made her just a few inches taller than Gabi. She could tell the other girl was just as flustered at their resemblance because she had a matching expression on her face while she looked at Gabi.

Gabi didn't even know how to process what was going through her head right now, but she definitely knew two things- that she was freaked out and that she was still very annoyed at other rude girl. She suddenly blanched at the idea of looking like and being compared to Mave. She knew she was being irrational but couldn't seem to stop the words from coming out of her mouth and she rolled her eyes at the other girl and looked at Easton.

"Resemblance? Between her and I? Let me see… I'm sure that under the hundreds of dollars of beauty products she's wearing and $200 blowout I'm sure she just got done, we look nothing alike. But the real difference between us?" Gabi said with a sickeningly sweet voice while she appraised the other girl.

"Let me guess… the real difference between us is that I have class and you don't?" Mave interrupted in such a condescending tone that Gabi swore she could have resorted to violence at that moment for the first time in her life.

"No. The real difference between us is that you're a stuck-up spoiled little rich girl who obviously belongs in Slytherin and should go back to whatever European boarding school she came from because her parents didn't want her around." Gabi didn't even realize what she had said until she had said it, but refused to let herself feel bad, even when Easton's eyes widened in shock and Mave's narrowed with anger and a trace of something hurt.

"And to think I came over here to apologize and clear the air between us. You, Gabi Rizzoli, are a truly terrible person and I loathe the idea of being compared to you in any aspect ever again." Mave spun on her heel and walked away with her head held high and an annoyingly confident swagger in her hips. At the same time, Kate was approaching Gabi and Easton and her eyes widened as she passed Mave.

"Wow who was _that_!? I think I just saw my one true love walk into my life," Kate smirked and joked as her way of greeting them. She nodded to Easton and continued "I'm Kate, Gabi's roommate. Did you guys hear yet about two girls getting into some petty argument in seminar? The first drama of the summer and I wasn't even around to witness it. Hopefully they'll get into it again."

Gabi just groaned and covered her face with her hands.

XXXXXXXX

On the afternoon of her first day of classes in the program, Mave had never been more thankful for the self discipline and complete focus that ballet required. Normally, she preferred her contemporary dance classes because she could get lost in the movement and express her emotions through the piece. She would have switched her focus completely to contemporary if her mom and grandmother had let her, but they were resolute that Mave needed to stick with ballet as her main specialization, at least until she went to college. Mave secretly believed they were just too uptight to appreciate the more modern and less structured form of dance. She was actually grateful for that today though because she needed something to take her mind off of the disastrous earlier events of the day.

Her first class had been just what she needed to ground herself and get her emotions in check. She loved the way dance made her feel in control of her body and her emotions, and it didn't hurt that she was very talented at it. Her instructor had already made several comments about her grace and perfect form, which restored Mave's confidence that had been taken earlier from her encounter with Gabi. She was stretching on the barre at the end of class when she finally allowed herself to process what happened earlier.

Mave hadn't meant to get so caught up in an argument about Hogwarts houses of all things, but she just let her pride and emotions get the best of her. It was a common issue that Mave had been dealing with the past couple of years and she swore she wouldn't let it get her into trouble this summer. Not after getting kicked out of boarding school last year. She was still on thin ice with her mother and was desperate to prove that she could be trusted, which is was led her to try to go apologize to the other girl after seminar. When she caught up to Gabi after class and saw up close for the first time, to say she was shocked would be the understatement of the year. She literally felt like she was looking in the mirror. She was actually excited for a few seconds because finding a girl who looked exactly like her in the city where she was born and adopted could be a clue into figuring out her history. However, any hope of connecting with the other girl was quickly shot down by Gabi's cruel words. She was still confused about what she did to warrant such an awful attitude from her, especially after she tried to apologize. Then, when Gabi made the comment about being sent to boarding schools because her mother didn't want her around, Mave was so enraged that she couldn't even think straight. Even though she knew her mother loved her so much and never would want to get rid of her, it still struck a nerve with her.

She hated that a girl she barely met could upset her so much with just one mean comment, and she especially hated that she was so emotionally fragile that she couldn't just brush it off. Mave had always felt everything so deeply, more deeply than other people did, or so she suspected. Growing up in her family and social circles, however, had taught Mave that letting your emotions control your actions was akin to showing your weaknesses. She never wanted to be perceived as weak. So, she had learned from a young age to shove her feelings down and rely on her beauty, manners, and charm to present herself in the best way possible. She loved the praise she would get from adults when they commented on how well behaved or delightful she was, and she loved it even more when the attention came from her mother and grandparents. She spent so much time and energy trying to please her mom, whom she admired so much. Maura was a great mom and she loved Mave unconditionally, but she was also dedicated to her career and enjoyed having a life of her own where she could go on dates and travel. She knew her mother had it much worse when she was growing up; she had heard many stories about how her grandparents were distant and never showed Maura affection. Maura tried her hardest to make sure that Mave always felt loved, supported, and wanted. Mave did feel that way, for the most part, but there was still some part of her that felt like she had to be the absolute best version of herself at all times to truly live up to the expectations of being the youngest member of the esteemed Isles family.

When she went to boarding school, however, she decided that she was going to just have fun for once in her life and stop trying to be the perfect daughter and granddaughter. She let herself get so caught up in what it felt like to be a normal irrational teenager and just doing what she wanted when she wanted that she ended up getting herself into more trouble than she ever expected. She didn't think she would ever forget the early morning that her mother came to her room at her boarding school and told her she had been kicked out.

The studio had cleared out by now and she decided to take advantage of the alone time to work on a contemporary dance to "Hold Me While You Wait" by Lewis Capaldi that she had been working on before she left France. She let the memories of that morning overtake her and inspire her movement as she started dancing.

_One minute Mave was sitting on the roof of the dormitory with a bottle of red wine and a pack of cigarettes after the worst day of her life, and the next thing she remembered was having the blanket yanked off of her and the lights in her room turned on, waking her up and alerting her to the sudden throbbing in her head. Before she could even fully process what was going on, her suitcase was thrown on the end of her bed and her belongings were being shoved into it. She looked over at the clock at saw it was 5:30 in the morning and she realized her mother was moving around her room like a very angry woman on a mission. _

"_Get up, Mave. Right now. We're packing your bags and I'm taking you home." Her mother sharply said by way of greeting her without even pausing to look at her. _

_It was that exact moment that Mave realized she was going to be sick so she tried to jump out of bed and make it to the trash can under her desk, but her coordination did not seem to be all there that morning so she stumbled onto the floor and vomited on her rug. _

_Her mother stopped and looked at her directly for the first time, but without any trace of sympathy in her eyes. "You are still drunk, obviously. Damn it, Mave. Go get yourself cleaned up and I will handle packing your things. You have 30 minutes until we leave." That was the closest to cursing that she had ever heard form Maura, so she knew she was serious. _

_Two hours later, her entire life at school had been packed up and they were sitting on a train back to France. When Mave had come back from the bathroom, Maura had wordlessly handed her a water, advil, and a bagel and told her the car was outside. Although their seats faced each other, her mother had not said a single word to Mave since they left school. She was dreading whatever conversation and punishment was obviously about to occur, but she couldn't take much more silence. _

_Mave decided to get Maura's attention by hesitantly whispering "Maman?"_

_Her mother finally looked up from her tablet and regarded her daughter seriously for what seemed like minutes before sighing and replying "Yes?"_

_Mave just looked down shamefully. "I'm sorry."_

"_I have never felt more fury than when I get a call at 11:30 pm last night from your headmaster telling me that a bullying case was brought against you yesterday, and then they found you passed out drunk on the roof with a lit cigarette in your hand later in the same night. My first reaction was that it couldn't possibly be MY daughter that they were talking about. So I am going to ask you this only once and I expect you to tell me the truth right now. What happened?"_

_Mave suddenly felt an overhwhelming tightness in her chest, like she couldn't breathe or talk or even think. She had felt the same thing last night before she went to the roof to escape. Her mom immediately could tell that something was wrong because she suddenly was beside Mave, rubbing her back and telling her to breathe. Once she calmed down enough to breathe normally and her mother had settled back in her seat across from her, she started from the beginning. _

"_I was so nervous about starting school. I wanted to be liked and make friends and do well, but I also wanted to get away from the Isles family reputation and just act like a normal teenager. On my first day of classes, I met this girl named Margot. She's a senior and they are allowed to leave school grounds if they come back by midnight, and her and some other seniors were going to a party at some alumni's apartment in town on the first friday night of the semester. She invited me to come with them if I was able to sneak past my floor mum and meet them. I immediately had a crush on her so I decided to go with them." She paused, looking up at Maura for any sign of emotion at her first declaration of ever liking a girl. She received nothing but a carefully blank face, so she continued. _

"_I met all these people who got to know me and accepted me, not ballet prodigy and youngest member of the Isles family Mave but just as Mave. I loved it so I got drunk and smoked weed and just let loose. I lost Margot shortly after we got to the party, but found her again when we were all headed back before curfew. She was- God, mom she looked terrible. She had cried all of her makeup off and was pale as a ghost and had a bruise forming on her cheek. No one else seemed to be noticing, so on the tram back to school I saw by her and asked what happened. She told me that Luca, this Italian superstar soccer player, who was also a senior with her, gave her too many drinks and forced himself on her. She was traumatized and terrified and I didn't know what to do. I told her to report him, but she just scoffed and said it would only make things worse for her." _

_Mave paused and looked up again at Maura, and this time her mother was looking at her with a flicker of concern. "Oh darling, I wish I could say you are entirely too young to be experiencing situations like this, but unfortunately this is the world we are living in. Still, I am sorry you were put through that. What happened next?"_

"_What I did next wasn't just because I liked Margot. I just- I really hate guys that take advantage of women. I was so angry and wanted to see justice served to Luca, but I knew there was no way that was going to happen, especially if Margot refused to report it. The next week when Margot and I were hanging out, she said she wished there was some other way that Luca could get what he deserved. I came up with a plan, almost jokingly, but she was so excited about it that she kissed me. She told me I didn't actually have to do it, but I wanted to prove myself to her and make sure Luca paid, so I created a fake email and sent an email to every single female student letting them know what Luca did, keeping Margot's identity a secret of course. I told them we needed to take a stand, and that every single female student should blatantly ignore Luca for the remainder of the semester. I didn't expect it to actually work, but word spread like wildfire and immediately Luca was ostracized by everyone. No one talked to him, no one ate with him, everyone refused to work with him on projects. Apparently he went to the headmaster and claimed he was being bullied, but no one was actually saying anything to him and they couldn't really force us to stop ignoring him. They heard about the anonymous email, but had no proof so they just let it go. Margot loved that I did that for her and claimed that she loved me, and we spent the rest of the semester making out in empty classrooms and sneaking off to parties. I knew it was wrong, all of it, but I also loved the power of making Luca pay for what he did and making Margot happy." _

_Maura just stared blankly at her daughter like she didn't even recognize her. Mave didn't really know how to take that, but she needed to finish the story anyway. _

"_However, last week everything went to shit. Margot came to me late one night, blackout drunk, and told me she was breaking up with me and getting together with Luca. She claims he was so apologetic about what he did and she felt so bad about what we did to him and she wanted to give him a second chance. She told me I had to send another email to everyone telling them it was all a big misunderstanding and that we should start treating Luca like normal again. I was so shocked and angry and hurt that I flat out refused. After a few days of realizing I was serious, she went to the headmaster with text proof that I was the one who sent out the email about Luca. They told me yesterday that I would have a disciplinary hearing to figure out how I would be punished, and I just freaked out. Between that and Margot ditching me for her literal sexual assaulter, I couldn't deal with my emotions and didn't know what to do so I went up to the roof with whatever alcohol I could find and just drank until I couldn't feel anything anymore. The next thing I knew, I was waking up this morning with you standing over me." Mave finally finished and looked at her mother hesitantly, trying to keep her emotions in check but feeling like she was on the verge of tears. _

"_I truly do not know how to respond to that." Maura Isles speechless was not something that Mave had seen bore. She knew she needed to trust her mom completely. _

"_Look Mom, I know what I did was wrong. I know I can't just take matters into my own hands, especially with something as serious as that. I just liked Margot SO much and was SO angry for her. I honestly think I was in love with her. I let that take over everything and started doing so many things that are out of character for me. And the fact that she left me for him? I feel so hurt and broken. This is the worst feeling I have ever had in my life. I just want it to stop!" Mave started to lose control, and by the end of what she was saying, she was fully on sobbing to her mom. She hadn't let herself be this vulnerable with her mother since she was a child, but she realized it actually felt good to let it all out with someone who loves her. _

_Maura took both of Mave's hands in hers and looked at her directly with her own teary eyes before speaking. "Mon amour- we are going to have to discuss your actions and your punishment very soon. But right now- thank you for trusting me enough to share this with me. I am so sorry that you experienced this and that you have your first broken heart. I wish I could tell you that it gets easier, but I would be lying and you know I cannot do that. I have had my heart broken a few times, and the last time it happened, I truly thought I would never get over it. To be honest, I'm not sure that I ever have. But I can promise you that it gets easier. The pain will start to dull and one evening, whether its a few months or a few years from now, you will realize you made it through an entire day without thinking about her. You can't let this harden you and you cannot close yourself off to love in the future. You need to use this to remind you how amazing it feels to be in love and remain hopeful that you will find an even more amazing woman, or person of any gender identity, in the future. I love you so much and I have every faith in the world that you will find that."_

Mave let herself feel everything about her heartbreak, her mom's disappointment, her struggles with herself, and her fight with Gabi and poured it into the dance until none of it seemed to matter anymore. When she finished, she was out of breath and in her own world, but felt lighter than she had in months. She hadn't noticed that she wasn't alone in the studio anymore until she looked in the mirror and saw a girl with short hair and the prettiest face she'd even seen looking at her in awe.

"Wow. Um. That looked really personal. I am so sorry for interrupting, but I walked by and saw you dancing and just had to watch. You are amazing. That was amazing." The girl was leaning against the doorway but stood up nervously and started walking towards her in the middle of the room. "I'm Kate, by the way." She showed off a dazzling smile and held her hand out.

Mave took her and responded with a bright smile of her own. "Thank you. It is really personal, but I'm glad you like it. I haven't shown it to anyone yet and I was a little nervous about it, to be honest. I'm Mave. It's nice to meet you."

Kate was just staring at her and blurted out "Has anyone ever told you how gorgeous you are? God I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'm just nervous because wow, you're so pretty."

Mave blushed slightly and just laughed. "I think I should keep you around if you are going to keep giving me all of these compliments. But seriously- did you need something?"

"Oh! No! Well, I was just walking by and couldn't help myself from being nosey. But I'm actually on my way to dinner at the dining hall if you'd like to join?" Kate asked much less hesitantly now, like she had regained her confidence.

"I'd love that! Let me just change out of this leotard and I'll be ready to go. I think you stumbling across my rehearsal studio is the best luck I've had all day." Mave winked at her before ducking out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

When Kate had texted Gabi to say she was on her way to meet her for dinner at the dining hall and was bringing another girl she’d met, she really should have expected that the girl would be none other than her snotty European lookalike. Gabi was having just about the worst first day imaginable after her dumb argument in seminar with Mave and then accidentally setting off the fire alarms in the medical science lab while she was trying to show off. Apparently the universe knew the only thing that could make this day worse was another encounter with Mave and it decided it just had to follow through. 

Gabi was already sitting at a table with some other girls from their dorm when Kate walked in, giggling with Mave like they were already best friends. She gestured at her roommate to come join her in the seats that she’d saved and just barely managed to avoid rolling her eyes at the other girl. When they sat down, Gabi was studiously avoiding eye contact with Mave and just focusing on her roommate, who was smiling at her like everything was right in the world. 

“Hey roomie! This is Mave, I was on my way out of the arts building after my drawing class and spotted her dancing. I rudely interrupted her with my embarrassing flirting,” Kate turned to the other girl and winked at her slyly before continuing. “So I thought I’d repay her by bringing her to dinner and introducing her to some other girls in our building. Mave, this is Gabi, my roommate.”

Internally Gabi just wanted to groan, thinking that of all the girls Kate could have developed a crush on, it had to be Mave. However, she had only known Kate for two days and decided it was best to keep her opinion of the other girl to herself. Instead, she kept her face devoid of any emotion and responded “How nice. Mave and I met earlier today. We’re in the same seminar. I think we both share a passion for Harry Potter.”

Mave raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow and sweetly agreed. “Yes, I believe that’s one way to describe it. It’s just lovely to see you again Gabi. I’m sure we’ll make the best of friends.”

Gabi narrowed her eyes at Mave and had to bite her tongue not to respond. As much as the girl irritated her to no end with, she really did not want to start any more drama. Part of the point of this summer program was to learn how to live on her own and act like an adult, and she didn’t think getting into another petty argument would be the mature thing to do. 

Kate just looked back and forth between them, hesitating for a moment like she wanted to ask what was going on. Then, as if she thought better of it, she just shrugged and started to get up. “Okay, well I am going to go get pizza and I’ll see you guys back here in a few I guess.” 

The rest of dinner passed rather uneventfully. Gabi was sure that Kate figured something was up because Gabi and Mave largely ignored each other and even brushed off Kate’s attempts to engage them both in conversation at the same time. Gabi would talk to Kate while Mave was chatting with other girls around them, and Mave was not so subtly flirting back with Kate when Gabi got roped into a 20 minute long argument about the Red Sox being the best sports team to ever exist. Obviously, Gabi supported the statement because she was Jane Rizzoli’s daughter and would be kicked out of the house if she ever argued anything else. At one point, a long awkward silence occured when the other girls had headed back to the dorm and Kate went back in line to get ice cream. Gabi just pretended to be looking at something important on her phone until her roommate came back with a large bowl of strawberry ice cream and a suspicious grin on her face. 

“You know, I’ve always believed that ice cream is the best way to bring people together so I got extra to share with you guys because I’m the nicest person ever, obviously, and we’re going to address the elephant in the room.”

Gabi tried not to show her disgust and just casually replied “No thank you, I’m allergic to strawberries.”

At the same time, Mave rolled her eyes and said “I’m allergic to strawberries but even if I wasn’t, I don’t want to catch whatever she’s got stuck up her butt.”

Once each girl had processed what the other had said while they were talking over each other, their eyes widened simultaneously. Gabi just told herself it was just a coincidence and tried to not think about it any more than that. 

“Okay weird, but whatever. Why are you guys being awkward? We’ve literally been here two days. Do you already know each other? Oh god, you guys aren’t exes, are you?” Kate asked extra dramatically, making it clear she was joking. 

Gabi, however, didn’t catch on to the joke immediately and spit out the sip of water she had been about to swallow. Mave just gave her a look as if to say “really”, a gesture that looked so much like one from Gabi’s own mother it was scary, and tossed her a napkin. 

“I think you can tell from Gabi’s oh so graceful reaction that while no, we were not ever involved, we did get into a bit of a tiff in seminar today.” 

“First, just want to clarify that I’m straight. And she looks like me, so that’s just weird and-”

Gabi was about to continue before Kate cheekily interrupted. “Everyone is pansexual until proven straight.” 

“And secondly,” Gabi resumed after rolling her eyes, “It was not just a bit of a tiff. It was a full blown argument in front of our entire class that I fully won, even if she won’t admit it.”

Mave shot her a deadly look and opened her mouth as if ready to start arguing back. 

“Hey, come on. Let’s not do this petty drama thing. We, as strong empowered women, know better than to bring other women down, right? Especially over something that really doesn’t matter. There are better ways to resolve this.” Kate rushed to say before Mave could formulate her comeback. 

Mave just grinned mischievously. “You know, I have an idea of a way to settle our debate once and for all. We play for it. If I win, then you concede my point. And if you win, then I to yours. What do you say, Rizzoli?” 

Gabi looked at her hesitantly. “What are we playing?”

“The game for only the strongest and cleverest minds, of course. Chess! Do you know how to play?” Mave, who was supremely confident of her skills after finally beating Maura for the first time this year, asked innocently. 

“I’ve played once or twice,” Gabi replied nonchalantly, not wanting to give away just how often she played with her mom and Uncle Tommy. “But let’s raise the stakes. Along with conceding to the other’s point, how about the loser also has to go outside the dorm, in her most embarrassing PJ’s, and sing the little teacup song and dance as loud as she can for everyone to see?”

“Game on Rizzoli. I hope your Disney princess pajamas and bunny slippers are ready.” Mave smirked. 

Kate, who up until this point was staying silent and looking quite scared at the arrangement that was being set up, finally chose to chime in. “Disney princesses? Please. Gabi is obviously a Star Wars jammies kind of girl.”

That was why, the next evening, Gabi and Mave found themselves face to face on the floor of the lobby with a very nice chess board between them. A group of girls were gathered around them, silently looking back and forth while trying to figure out who was going to win. They had been playing for over an hour at this point and the tension in the air was palpable. Both girls had been intensely studying to board with identical looks of concentration on their faces, but no one dared to comment on their resemblance for fear of getting her head bitten off. Finally, Gabi moved one of her pieces on the board and looked at Mave with an expression of pure arrogance. 

“Check. Freaking. Mate.” She said, pausing between each word for dramatic effect before giggling. Mave just stared at her with a look of disbelief. 

“Mais...Mon dieu! No one my age has EVER beaten me. Where in the world did you learn to play?” Mave had to force herself not to revert to speaking French like she always did when she was emotional. 

“My family may be a good old blue collar Southie Boston family, but that doesn’t mean we can't also be smart and good at chess, you know.” Gabi replied bitterly.

Mave just rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t what I was implying. You can stop with the spoiled rich girl jokes now. Quite frankly it’s unoriginal and overused. But a deal is a deal.” She gestured down to her polka dot nightgown that looks like it came from the toddler section at Harrods and her bright yellow Minion slippers and started to walk outside with everyone following. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this, but she reasoned with herself that at least it was with a group of people she had just met and most likely would never see again after the summer, right?

“Okay Isles. Let’s see you do it twice, once in French and once in English for all of us uncultured Americans!” Gabi yelled while breaking out in a fit of giggles with everyone else. She discreetly brought her phone out when Mave began and started filming when she was sure the other girl hadn't noticed. This had turned out to be the best bet ever. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To say that Mave was mad would be the biggest understatement in the history of the world. She was livid, furious, and enraged. Positively fuming. Given her state of emotion on Wednesday night after classes, she knew she should go for a run or dance it out. Instead, she did the exact opposite of what her mother had taught her to do when she was feeling like this, she was on her way to confront the cause of her outrage. That person, unsurprisingly, was Gabi Rizzoli. 

Mave truly did not understand what she did to deserve such awful treatment from the other girl, especially after she lost the chess game and did the agreed upon concession and performance without a single complaint. She was being the definition of a good sport, especially because she didn’t want to disappoint her mother, but after what Gabi found out after class today, there was no way she was going to idly sit by while Gabi continued to treat her like this. 

Last night after she went outside and told the crowd of people watching that Gabi was right and performed the little teacup song, twice, she shook Gabi’s hand and went inside and hung out the rest of the night with Gabi and Kate and other girls in their building. She thought the drama was finally over and even allowed herself to finally relax in the other girl’s presence. Now, however, she felt like a fool that she ever let her guard down. It started earlier that afternoon after ballet class. They weren’t allowed to have their phones in the studio, so after they had changed and retrieved their bags from their cubbies, everyone was checking their phones as they headed to lunch and Mave noticed they all appeared to be watching some video and laughing. 

Lilly, a seemingly nice girl from California that Mave could see herself becoming friends with, came over and started walking beside her, looking suddenly concerned. “Mave, did you see the video on the unoffical insta page?”

“Um, no. Should I have?” Mave asked curiously. She had social media, obviously, but it seemed to be a bigger deal to her new American friends than it ever was to her friends in Paris and boarding school. They would post pictures with their friends once in a while and check it regularly, but the other teenagers here seemed to be either on it or talking about it constantly. Mave didn’t quite understand it, but she figured that was just some of her mother’s social unawareness rubbing off on her. 

“Girl, maybe you should take a look at this.” Lilly said quietly while handing her phone to Mave and pressing play on the video that was on her screen. On the screen was an obnoxiously edited video of her after she lost the bet last night to Gabi. It starts with her saying Gabi Rizzoli was right, except her voice was morphed and the clip was repeated three or four times as the words got louder each time. Then, it continued into Gabi’s performance of Little Teacup and someone had used an app to draw over the video. They drew a handle and spout as she sang it and drew an entire, quite elaborately decorated, teacup around Mave. It was clearly meant to be just be funny and not cruel, but Mave found it childish and annoying. Also, it had over 100 views so far. 

Gabi was grateful to Lilly for showing her the video and tried to act unbothered through the rest of lunch, but she was internally seething. When she was finished eating, she quickly excused herself and dropped her stuff off in her room before taking the stairs up to Gabi’s floor, intent on confronting the other girl immediately. When she found the right room, she started banging on the door rather ungracefully and shouting “Gabi Rizzoli, if you are in there you better open this door right now or so help me god I will-”

She was cut off by Kate opening the door suddenly, looking a little flustered and very cute, even though Mave tried not to let herself think about that right now. “Mave? What’s going on? Why are you banging on my door while I’m trying to nap?”

Mave pushed past her into the room and looked around, huffing indignantly when she realized Gabi wasn’t there. She turned back to Kate sheepishly. “Hi Kate, sorry for barging in like this. I was looking for Gabi. I saw the video she posted on instagram and got so angry that I just came to confront her without even thinking.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you look exceptionally stunning when you’re on a mission?” Kate smirked at her. 

Mave just laughed and rolled her eyes in response, already feeling herself starting to calm down. She thought that maybe running into Kate was a good thing if it prevented her from confronting Gabi so angrily and starting another fight. She realized that if she truly wanted to get revenge, she needed to play the long game. 

“But for real, Gabi went to go do a science experiment for fun or something? Seems sketch to me but whatever. You’re welcome to hang out and wait here for you if you promise to play nice when she gets here.”

“I promise I will be on my best behavior. I’m really trying to work on my temper and impulse control, so it’s probably good that she isn’t here right now. I’m glad I get to hang out with you though.” Mave laughed and sat down next to Kate on her bed. She shot the other girl her most flirty smile and tossed her hair behind her shoulder like she had seen Maura do a thousand times. It always worked like a charm. 

Kate stretched out and leaned back against the wall like she had all the time in the world. “So tell me everything there is to know about the worldly and mysterious Mave Isles?” 

Mave spent the next hour talking and laughing with Kate about their families and lives and random stories that came up. Mave had always been well liked and got along well with her other kids her age, but she hadn’t really connected with another teenager since Margot. She always thought that to be liked she had to present a carefully crafted perfect version of herself, so she felt like she was never really her most authentic self around most of her “friends” at school and ballet. It was nice to be able to just laugh and truly enjoy spending time with someone her own age without worrying what they thought of her and if she was living up to the Isles family expectations. It didn’t hurt that Kate was maybe like the prettiest girl Mave had ever seen. 

After Mave laughed so hard she almost choked on her water while listening to Kate tell a story about her dad trying to have “the talk” with her, Mave decided she  _ really _ wanted to kiss her. She knew she was gay, and thought they both felt the same way, but still wanted to be sure. 

“Thank you again for calming me down so much. I was just so angry earlier when I saw that video that Gabi posted. I feel a lot better now though after hanging out with you.” Mave smiled genuinely at Kate, who was sitting cross legged across from her on the bed. 

“Seriously it’s no big deal. If it counts for anything, I tried to stop her from posting it. I mean she’s my roommate and she’s super cool, but I thought it was kind of a dick move. I really don’t think she meant it to be mean though, just more like poking fun at you, if that makes sense?” Kate grabbed Mave’s hand gently and held it in her lap comfortingly. 

“Yeah, I guess. Full disclosure: I’m going to get revenge. I feel like I should tell you that so you don’t feel like you have to be in the middle of whatever drama is going on between Gabi and I. I know you guys are friends but I would really like to spend more time with you too. And I promise I won’t make you choose between us.” Mave blushed and squeezed Kate’s hand back. 

“Good because I really like spending time with you. Now I have a serious question to ask you!” 

Mave tilted her head to the side and studied Kate curiously, a gesture she had picked up from Maura without even realizing it. 

“If I ask you on a date to have a Harry Potter marathon with me, are you going to argue with me the whole time about Hogwarts houses?” Kate said with a faux serious look on her face while trying not to laugh. 

Mave actually did burst out laughing and pulled her hand from Kate’s to sit up on her knees and shove her jokingly. She put too much force behind it though and ended up falling backwards onto the bed. This caused her to start laughing even more, especially because she usually wasn’t that clumsy, being a ballerina and all. 

She stopped laughing abruptly though when she realized Kate was leaning over her, looking at her intently. Mave suddenly couldn’t focus on anything else besides Kate’s lips, which were now just a few inches from her own. She decided she’d had enough waiting and pulled Kate down by her shoulder until their lips met and they were kissing each other softly. It was sweet and soft and perfect and Mave decided in that moment that she never wanted it to stop. 

That, of course, was the exact moment that Gabi Rizzoli loudly banged open the door and gasped “Oh my GOD. OH my god. Seriously? I’m just going to back out slowly and pretend I didn’t see that.” With a look of pure disbelief on her face, she started to turn around and leave while muttering a few more “oh my gods” to herself. 

Kate sighed against Mave’s lips and pulled away. She quickly pecked Mave’s cheek before whispering “I’m sorry” and then grabbing both of Mave’s arms to pull her up back into an upright sitting position. She hopped off the bed, disappeared out the door for a second before coming right back in with Gabi in tow. 

Even though hanging out with Kate had forced Mave to chill out, seeing Gabi brought her anger right back to the surface again. She wanted to scream and throw insults at the other girl just to hurt her feelings back, but she thought back to her mother’s coping mechanisms and how Maura would want her to behave. She closed her eyes, made herself take a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth three times, and then opened them again to find the two other girls just staring at her. 

“Don’t look at me like that. I was just doing some yoga deep breathing techniques.” Mave rolled her eyes. 

“Actually studies have shown that taking 10-15 minutes to practice deep breathing and meditation decrease anxiety and depression and increase serotonin and general happiness by over-” Gabi started rambling before she was cut off. 

“I don’t actually care. I came here to talk to you about that video you posted. Why would you do that? I lost gracefully and did everything you wanted? Why would you still humiliate me?” Mave asked calmly, but still with a slight edge to her voice. 

“It didn’t look like you came here to talk to me when I walked in on you making out with Kate.” Gabi replied sarcastically with one eyebrow raised. 

Kate just chimed it “Dude. Seriously?”

“Okay okay sorry. I didn’t post that video to ‘humiliate’ you, drama queen. It wasn’t meant to be mean. It was just funny and other people have been posting pranks and memes and other things happening around campus, so I just thought it’d be some quality content.” Gabi replied somewhat sincerely. 

“You edited and posted a video of me singing and dancing without my permission to make ‘quality content’? Are you actually serious right now?” Mave replied quickly and with her voice raised enough to cause Kate to put her hand on her arm in an attempt to calm her down.

“I mean, I guess now that you say it like that, it does sound kind of mean. But I swear I didn’t intend it to embarrass you.”

“To be quite honest Gabi Rizzoli, I don’t think I believe a single thing you ‘swear’. But I do have another proposition for you. I am challenging you to a water balloon fight this weekend on the quad. You can bring four friends. If I win, you have to recreate the video you posted of me and replace mine with it.” Mave asked with a devious smile on her face. 

“Okay I think I’ll take that challenge. And what do I get if I win?” Gabi smirked in response. 

“Honestly didn’t even think that far ahead because it’s not going to happen Rizzoli.” Mave laughed condescendingly .

“Oh I have an idea, Isles. You have to dress and act like me for a day. No fancy clothes or gross healthy meals or whatever other uptight things you do all day. You have to do everything I would do.” 

“That just seems silly but fine, whatever, you have yourself a deal. Meet me on Saturday at Noon by the Lion statue.” Mave stuck out her hand for Gabi to take and they shook on it. Mave knew she was playing with fire, but her plan was brilliant and she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what her sweet revenge against Gabi will feel like in just a few days time. 

Meanwhile, Kate just watched the whole exchange wearily and muttered to herself “God, if you are listening, please don’t let this end as terribly as it sounds.” 

  
  



End file.
